Microstimuli: How tiny cues can reshape decisions and public behaviour

How micro stimuli, not 30-second commercials, can change human behaviour

Microstimuli: The New Science of Persuasion

By Biju Dominic

Published by Penguin

272 pages ₹699

 

The Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM) developed by Richard E Petty and John Cacioppo in 1986 proposed that humans have a dual mode of processing stimuli. When one has high motivation and/or high ability to think about a message, one does deep processing, leading to lasting changes. But when one has low motivation and/or ability one does superficial processing focused on surface features, leading to temporary change. 

Nobel laureate Daniel Kahneman proposed the Thinking, Fast and Slow  paradigm. This plagues all our decision-making. System 1 thinking is intuitive and fast. System 2 thinking is deliberate and slow. 

What has been found is that human beings are prone to taking shortcuts. Our brain is always trying to take the easy way out, not wanting to think slow. 

Microstimuli: The New Science of Persuasion by Biju Dominic builds on these theories with eye-opening examples. The author is an advertising professional-turned-consumer researcher and consultant. He is the founder of FinalMile Consulting that is now part of Fractal Analytics. He and his team have done pioneering work, breaking from convention, fusing neuroscience, behavioural economics and design to create a new language for behaviour change. 

How quickly does our brain react to a stimuli? One second? Less? A housefly detects danger from an approaching object in just 30-50 milliseconds. A human will take 150-250 milliseconds to move his hand to swat a fly. No wonder, then, the fly wins almost always. By the way, it takes 1,000 millisecond to make a second. The book also tells us that most humans make approximately 35,000 decisions each day. You are taking a few decisions as you are reading this review. 

The book presents its arguments in five sections and this reviewer found the arrangements of the sections builds up to an interesting climax. 

The first section sets up the context by presenting two real life stories arising out of human behaviour problems. Why does a city like Mumbai have 16 deaths on its train tracks every day? How did a highly accomplished pilot make a wrong decision when landing his plane in Mangaluru on May 22, 2010? 

The second section presents the need to develop a fresh perspective on understanding human behaviour. The author, given his knowledge about the world of advertising persuasion, points towards an experiment that (falsely) claimed that by flashing “Drink Coke” on movie screens for 1/3000th of a second, you can increase Coke consumption. But there was something in that experiment, though it was a typical advertising overclaim. 

The third section looks at the emerging new science of human behavior and how deep biological secrets are driving it. Why do we crave sugar? Why do we have this fight or flee reaction? Could these reactions be related to our evolutionary brain? Is there a need to study how our evolution shaped our psyche? 

The fourth section presents the new approach, FinalMile, pioneered to solve human behaviour problems. The idea of Microstimuli is presented here. Microstimuli do not come out of the blue. The team uses a technique called EthnoLab to uncover the hidden reasons behind behavior, and then designs Microstimuli to change behaviour. The author points to the movie posters of Jaws and Sholay to explain that a single glance at these posters is enough to tell moviegoers what to expect. You don’t need a one-minute trailer or a detailed thesis. 

This reviewer found the fifth section of great interest, since it is here that the author takes us through the step-by-step process of how they used Ethnolab and Microstimuli to change the way a Mumbaikar crosses (or avoids crossing) the railway tracks. Did their stimuli work? What were the results? This section also has a few other examples of Microstimuli at work. 

The book argues that in this smartphone era, where an average consumer looks at his or her phone many thousand times a day, our marketing stimuli should also be micro. Should we bury the 30-second commercial? Or find a different role for it? Those are questions the reader is left to ponder. 

The book is full of interesting anecdotes, book references and examples. There is much food for thought for those involved in marketing and marketing communications. 

What was also enlightening is the way Microstimuli is being embraced by government agencies to improve safety standards. I am sure these types of stimuli can also help improve behaviour across a range of policy domains — from crossing rail tracks to driving, wearing a helmet, donating blood and more. 

The reviewer is an author and founder of brand advisory Brand-Building.com